Showing posts with label lefties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lefties. Show all posts
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Timing the Whoosh
Last fall I wrote about the whoosh--the sound the clubhead makes when you swing it fast. I want to review that, and add on another comment.
Swing a golf club, maybe a 5-iron or longer, without a ball in front of you. Listen for the whoosh. That’s the sound of your club travelling at its maximum speed.
The whoosh gives you an indication of what your clubhead speed is. While you won’t get a precise measurement, obviously, we can say that the higher the pitch, the faster the club is travelling.
And more speed is always better. The Internet is full of pages, and YouTube if full of videos, about how to increase your clubhead speed. But many of them fail to make the most important point. Your maximum clubhead speed has to appear at the right moment. Otherwise, it’s no good.
You should hear the whoosh at or just past where a ball would be. If you hear it before the clubhead gets to the ball, you are releasing the club too early and using up your clubhead speed before you really need it.
Most likely, if that is the case, you’re letting go of the angle between your right forearm and the clubshaft too soon on the downswing. Play with holding on to that angle a little bit longer until you hear the whoosh placed directly in front of you.
This shouldn’t be a big adjustment to make. Just be sure you’re only adjusting your release and not trying to force this to happen. Light grip pressure will help, too.
Be careful, though. It is entirely possible to give up your angle too early and still place the whoosh in the right spot. This is a two-part exercise: retaining the angle and placing the whoosh.
And don’t go expecting miracles once you’ve accomplished it. You only hear, “I tried this and now I hit my drives 40 yards longer,” when somebody is trying to sell you something. If you get 7-10 more yards out of this, you’ve done the job.
Friday, January 24, 2014
A simple cure for golfers who hook
If watching the ball curve right too many times is driving you nuts, try this cure. Maybe it's all in your grip.
It's possible that you're doing everything right in your swing and you still hit those draws that get out of control. If that's so, the reason is likely that your left hand is overpowering your right just before impact, which makes both hands rotate clockwise, closing the clubface. Hello, hook. If you have what is called a neutral grip, with the palms facing each other, and the Vs between the thumb and forefinger of each hand point at your left shoulder, keep reading.
Your right hand is too weak. It's in a position where it cannot resist the rotation of the left hand trying to hit the ball. As well, the left hand cannot resist rotating clockwise in the effort to hit the ball. Both hands are to blame, so we have to correct each one. First, the right hand.
Put your right hand out in front of you, thumb up. Now push gently on the base of the thumb, pushing to the right. You will notice that the thumb rotates away from the push quite easily. This is exactly what's happening in your swing. The left hand pushes on the right, and the right hand cannot resist. To cure that, turn your right hand on the grip counterclockwise, strengthening it, so you can see three knuckles on the back of that hand. Keep the left hand where it is. Do NOT rotate it to match what you did with the right hand.
Now, the right hand is acting as a buttress against the left hand. Now push against the right hand, at the base of the thumb, in this position. The right hand does not move because it cannot. Even if your left hand is pushing hard against it, the right hand will hold its position and keep the clubface square.
See photos of this grip at A Grip Fundamental.
When you try this new grip, rest the clubhead on the ground, take the grip, and look at it to make sure it's right. Then step up and hit the ball where you're aiming.
Now let's correct the left hand.
We do not have to change the position of the hand, but its action. Reduce the function of this hand to nothing more than holding on to the club. Do not try to hit the ball with this hand. That causes problems that go beyond the point of this article, but what is relevant here is that if it does not push against the right hand, the right hand will not feel the need to push back.
Your hands are supposed to be working together to hit the ball, not fighting with each other. If you reduce the left hand to a passive role, you will find that you hit the ball with a squarer clubface, and hit it farther, too. And, it goes straight, which was our primary goal.
Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com
It's possible that you're doing everything right in your swing and you still hit those draws that get out of control. If that's so, the reason is likely that your left hand is overpowering your right just before impact, which makes both hands rotate clockwise, closing the clubface. Hello, hook. If you have what is called a neutral grip, with the palms facing each other, and the Vs between the thumb and forefinger of each hand point at your left shoulder, keep reading.
Your right hand is too weak. It's in a position where it cannot resist the rotation of the left hand trying to hit the ball. As well, the left hand cannot resist rotating clockwise in the effort to hit the ball. Both hands are to blame, so we have to correct each one. First, the right hand.
Put your right hand out in front of you, thumb up. Now push gently on the base of the thumb, pushing to the right. You will notice that the thumb rotates away from the push quite easily. This is exactly what's happening in your swing. The left hand pushes on the right, and the right hand cannot resist. To cure that, turn your right hand on the grip counterclockwise, strengthening it, so you can see three knuckles on the back of that hand. Keep the left hand where it is. Do NOT rotate it to match what you did with the right hand.
Now, the right hand is acting as a buttress against the left hand. Now push against the right hand, at the base of the thumb, in this position. The right hand does not move because it cannot. Even if your left hand is pushing hard against it, the right hand will hold its position and keep the clubface square.
See photos of this grip at A Grip Fundamental.
When you try this new grip, rest the clubhead on the ground, take the grip, and look at it to make sure it's right. Then step up and hit the ball where you're aiming.
Now let's correct the left hand.
We do not have to change the position of the hand, but its action. Reduce the function of this hand to nothing more than holding on to the club. Do not try to hit the ball with this hand. That causes problems that go beyond the point of this article, but what is relevant here is that if it does not push against the right hand, the right hand will not feel the need to push back.
Your hands are supposed to be working together to hit the ball, not fighting with each other. If you reduce the left hand to a passive role, you will find that you hit the ball with a squarer clubface, and hit it farther, too. And, it goes straight, which was our primary goal.
Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Hit Your Driver Straight: A Checklist
Recreational golfers shoot good scores by getting the ball in the fairway off the tee. By going through the following checklist before you swing, you will increase your chances of hitting good shots with the hardest club to hit well.
Straighter shots begin when you set up to the ball. Most golfers set up aimed to the right of their target.
Either the ball goes right, or a subconscious correction sends the ball pretty much anywhere, only sometimes where you intend.
Practice your aim every time you go to the range. It is a skill that cannot be learned for good; it must be refreshed at every opportunity.
Ball position counts, too. With your driver, you want hit the ball slightly on the upswing.
Lay an alignment stick on the ground pointing from your stance toward the ball (at a right angle to your target line). When the stick points to the ball, and inside of your left heel lies against the stick, the ball is in the right place.
The following traits can be easily built into anyone's swing. They help keep the club under control so you can return it to the ball square and in line.
1. Grip down about a half inch from where you normally do. This will give you more control of the club.
2. Take the club back straight. It's hard to take the club back outside, but easy to take it back inside. Have a friend stand down the line behind you to give you feedback on getting this right.
3. Do not swing the club back too far. Take it back only as far as when you hit your 9-iron and see what happens.
4. Start your downswing by turning your body. Let the hands and wrists go along for the ride until the momentum of the downswing unleashes the wrists and hands into the ball.
5. Keep your body turning. A common error is to slow down your body near impact so can apply a hit.
6. There's a race between your hands and the clubhead to get to the ball first, which your hands have to win. Keep pulling your hands through the impact zone.
7. Suppress the urge to clobber the ball with your left hand. Swing your arms and hands through the ball with your body turn.
2013 update: This summer I have been hitting my driver exceedingly straight. I attribute that to the work I have been doing on making sure my hands are ahead of the clubhead through the hitting area.
Bonus: Until you can hit your driver straight, tee off with a club that you can.
Straighter shots begin when you set up to the ball. Most golfers set up aimed to the right of their target.
Either the ball goes right, or a subconscious correction sends the ball pretty much anywhere, only sometimes where you intend.
Practice your aim every time you go to the range. It is a skill that cannot be learned for good; it must be refreshed at every opportunity.
Ball position counts, too. With your driver, you want hit the ball slightly on the upswing.
Lay an alignment stick on the ground pointing from your stance toward the ball (at a right angle to your target line). When the stick points to the ball, and inside of your left heel lies against the stick, the ball is in the right place.
The following traits can be easily built into anyone's swing. They help keep the club under control so you can return it to the ball square and in line.
1. Grip down about a half inch from where you normally do. This will give you more control of the club.
2. Take the club back straight. It's hard to take the club back outside, but easy to take it back inside. Have a friend stand down the line behind you to give you feedback on getting this right.
3. Do not swing the club back too far. Take it back only as far as when you hit your 9-iron and see what happens.
4. Start your downswing by turning your body. Let the hands and wrists go along for the ride until the momentum of the downswing unleashes the wrists and hands into the ball.
5. Keep your body turning. A common error is to slow down your body near impact so can apply a hit.
6. There's a race between your hands and the clubhead to get to the ball first, which your hands have to win. Keep pulling your hands through the impact zone.
7. Suppress the urge to clobber the ball with your left hand. Swing your arms and hands through the ball with your body turn.
2013 update: This summer I have been hitting my driver exceedingly straight. I attribute that to the work I have been doing on making sure my hands are ahead of the clubhead through the hitting area.
Bonus: Until you can hit your driver straight, tee off with a club that you can.
Friday, November 16, 2012
A Winter Improvement Program - Transition
There are so many parts of the golf swing that are important, it's hard to single out one part and say it's the most important. So I will say that a major part is the transition from the backswing to the downswing. This is where all the good work you have done so far, set up correctly, swung back correctly, can be made use of or thrown away.
There are two issues here. First, you're changing the direction of your swing movement. What is the first thing that moves? What leads off the downswing? Second, you don't hit the ball with your backswing. You don't hit it with the early part of your downswing, either, so you need to find a way to keep from getting ahead of yourself -- trying to hit before it's the right time. The temptation to do that is great, and many recreational golfers give in.
So. You've wound yourself up to the left, and now you're ready to start unwinding. Make the first move down with your lower body, on the right side. By lower body I mean from the hips down.
What part of your lower body you move first is up to you, because the entire thing moves as one piece. You can move your right knee toward the ball to get everything going, you can slide your right hip to the right a bit, or, if your right foot comes off the ground a bit on your backswing, you can plant the foot on the ground again for your first move. As soon as that one thing moves, though, the rest of the right side follows.
To solve the second problem, keep the orientation of your upper body the same in the early part of the downswing. That is, your entire upper body feels like it is in a cast and is merely being carried around by the turning of the lower body. It will all unfold in time.
Practice your transition by swinging back, then applying your right-side trigger. Swing down only to where your hands are about as high as your left hip, and stop. You should have the majority of your weight tending toward the right side, and while the angle between your right arm and shoulder line has started to open up, the angle between your right forearm and the clubshaft should be the same.
Practice this a lot. It's how to turn a hit into a swing, which is the way to better ballstriking.
Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com
There are two issues here. First, you're changing the direction of your swing movement. What is the first thing that moves? What leads off the downswing? Second, you don't hit the ball with your backswing. You don't hit it with the early part of your downswing, either, so you need to find a way to keep from getting ahead of yourself -- trying to hit before it's the right time. The temptation to do that is great, and many recreational golfers give in.
So. You've wound yourself up to the left, and now you're ready to start unwinding. Make the first move down with your lower body, on the right side. By lower body I mean from the hips down.
What part of your lower body you move first is up to you, because the entire thing moves as one piece. You can move your right knee toward the ball to get everything going, you can slide your right hip to the right a bit, or, if your right foot comes off the ground a bit on your backswing, you can plant the foot on the ground again for your first move. As soon as that one thing moves, though, the rest of the right side follows.
To solve the second problem, keep the orientation of your upper body the same in the early part of the downswing. That is, your entire upper body feels like it is in a cast and is merely being carried around by the turning of the lower body. It will all unfold in time.
Practice your transition by swinging back, then applying your right-side trigger. Swing down only to where your hands are about as high as your left hip, and stop. You should have the majority of your weight tending toward the right side, and while the angle between your right arm and shoulder line has started to open up, the angle between your right forearm and the clubshaft should be the same.
Practice this a lot. It's how to turn a hit into a swing, which is the way to better ballstriking.
Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com
Friday, July 27, 2012
Lead With the Right, Hit With the Left
Throughout the history of golf, there has been debate going back and forth about which side is dominant in the golf swing. There's the right side argument, in that this side leads into the swing and keeps the left side from taking over. The left side argument is that you do everything else with your dominant hand, so you should hit the ball with your left hand, too.
Let us never forget that golf is a two-sided game. One of the famous quotes from Ben Hogan's Five Lessons is that "as far as applying power goes, I wish I had three right hands!" (Three left hands for you. Adapted directions follow.) This isn't an entirely accurate statement of what he did at impact and is thus misinterpreted. What he meant was that at impact he is pouring it on with the entire left side. He is definitely not telling you to bang the ball with your left hand or swing with your left side only.
What Hogan wants us to remember is to get into position to hit with the left side by leading down with the right side. The swing starts down with the right side and puts the left side into a position where, at about the point where the hands are level with the hips, the left side can hit as hard as you want. Actually, Hogan says that both sides should hit hard.
Kathy Whitworth made a similar point in her book, Golf for Women. What she says, incidentally, applies to men just as well. She is very clear that the right side dominates the swing. That is not to say that the left side does nothing, but that it cannot take the lead role in the backswing and that it follows through the ball on the downswing.
Annika Sorenstam has mentioned that to start the downswing, you should have the feeling that the right side is moving into the ball and the left side is staying where it is -- that the left and right side are separating. Again, the right side is in control.
Go to the range and think, "lead back and through with the right, hit with the left." That might make things much simpler and give you some powerful hits.
Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com
Let us never forget that golf is a two-sided game. One of the famous quotes from Ben Hogan's Five Lessons is that "as far as applying power goes, I wish I had three right hands!" (Three left hands for you. Adapted directions follow.) This isn't an entirely accurate statement of what he did at impact and is thus misinterpreted. What he meant was that at impact he is pouring it on with the entire left side. He is definitely not telling you to bang the ball with your left hand or swing with your left side only.
What Hogan wants us to remember is to get into position to hit with the left side by leading down with the right side. The swing starts down with the right side and puts the left side into a position where, at about the point where the hands are level with the hips, the left side can hit as hard as you want. Actually, Hogan says that both sides should hit hard.
Kathy Whitworth made a similar point in her book, Golf for Women. What she says, incidentally, applies to men just as well. She is very clear that the right side dominates the swing. That is not to say that the left side does nothing, but that it cannot take the lead role in the backswing and that it follows through the ball on the downswing.
Annika Sorenstam has mentioned that to start the downswing, you should have the feeling that the right side is moving into the ball and the left side is staying where it is -- that the left and right side are separating. Again, the right side is in control.
Go to the range and think, "lead back and through with the right, hit with the left." That might make things much simpler and give you some powerful hits.
Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Align Your Golf Swing This Easy Way
If you were going to shoot at a target with a rifle, you would aim it at the target first. Pretty obvious. If you were going to hit a golf ball toward a target, you would aim yourself first, too. Obvious, but seldom nicely done by recreational golfers.
Many times, what you think is a swing problem is really a matter of not getting aimed* when you set up for the shot. When a golfer is mis-aimed, it is almost always to the left of the target. The subconscious mind knows this, and tries to make a correction during the downswing to get the swing aimed at the target again. Correcting like this is unreliable and is a cause of shots that fly off in every direction -- there's no consistent miss.
Many times, what you think is a swing problem is really a matter of not getting aimed* when you set up for the shot. When a golfer is mis-aimed, it is almost always to the left of the target. The subconscious mind knows this, and tries to make a correction during the downswing to get the swing aimed at the target again. Correcting like this is unreliable and is a cause of shots that fly off in every direction -- there's no consistent miss.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
When the Ball Can't Just Go Right - or Left
There are holes where a miss to either side is playable and all you have to do is put your normal swing on the ball. Wherever it goes is all right with you. There are times, though, when there is one side of the course to where the ball just cannot go to.
For example, I play a course on which the 2nd tee is hard against the right side, which is also out of bounds. You just have to get the ball to the left side of the fairway, and hitting the ball with even the smallest fade is disastrous. Fortunately, taking one side out of the shot with certainty is easy to do.
For example, I play a course on which the 2nd tee is hard against the right side, which is also out of bounds. You just have to get the ball to the left side of the fairway, and hitting the ball with even the smallest fade is disastrous. Fortunately, taking one side out of the shot with certainty is easy to do.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Casting: Golf's Killer Fault Has an Easy Fix
While swing changes should be a matter between yourself and your pro, there is one change I am going to recommend to you. It is very likely one that you need to make. Stop casting.
Casting is releasing your wrist set just after you start the club back down from the top of your backswing. This is too early. If you do that, you’re giving up clubhead speed and accuracy for no reason. By correcting this common error, the difference in the way you hit the ball will be jaw-dropping.
You don’t think you cast? Let’s find out. Swing up to the top of your backswing and look over your left shoulder at the angle made by your left forearm and the club shaft. Set up again, swing the club up and then back down, stopping when your hands get hip high. Look again at the angle your left forearm and the club shaft make. Is it the same angle? If the angle has changed and the forearm and shaft make a straighter line than before, you’re casting. It’s time to get that out of your swing.
Casting is releasing your wrist set just after you start the club back down from the top of your backswing. This is too early. If you do that, you’re giving up clubhead speed and accuracy for no reason. By correcting this common error, the difference in the way you hit the ball will be jaw-dropping.
You don’t think you cast? Let’s find out. Swing up to the top of your backswing and look over your left shoulder at the angle made by your left forearm and the club shaft. Set up again, swing the club up and then back down, stopping when your hands get hip high. Look again at the angle your left forearm and the club shaft make. Is it the same angle? If the angle has changed and the forearm and shaft make a straighter line than before, you’re casting. It’s time to get that out of your swing.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
The Golf Swing Move That Changes Everything
My son is learning how to play golf. He he didn't start until he was about 30 years old. Best to start when you're about 10, and I tried, but he was 10 in the heyday of Michael Jordan, and basketball won out. My son is fairly athletic and hits the ball a long way, but neither he nor I have any idea of where it's going to end up most of the time. The reason for that, and the one thing that he is struggling to learn, involves his left wrist. This post is not about him, though. It's about over half the recreational golfers I play with who do the same thing he does. They flip. In an earlier post, I talked about pronation and supination. This is one of my most-read posts, because it is something that Ben Hogan went into at length in his book, Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf. The Hogan mystique makes amateurs think this is the magic move that if they get figured out, will change everything. For once, they're right. It means simply this. At impact, the cup (backward bend) in the left wrist MUST BE MAINTAINED. That wrist must not be straightened out at that moment, and it must certainly not be bent forward (flip).
Saturday, April 14, 2012
An Experiment With Uphill and Downhill Putts
Short post today. Yesterday morning I was at the range and I tried something different on uphill and downhill putts to get the distance right. For the uphill putt, I gripped the putter at the very end of the handle. My right little finger was barely on the club. That has the effect of lengthening the club, giving the stroke a little more speed without any more effort. I usually leave uphill putts short of the hole, and this trick did get the ball closer.
I tried the opposite for a downhill putt, by gripping down from where I usually hold the putter, thereby shortening the club, which takes off speed. That didn't help as much, though I must say that I'm pretty good at downhill putts already and don't need this kind of assistance.
You might try it, though, lengthening or shortening up on the grip to adjust for slope. Then you hit the ball using the same pace as you would for the length of putt you are facing as if it were a putt across level ground. I can't say anything conclusive about this trick, because I only played with it for a few minutes. It's just another variable that might help.
Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com
I tried the opposite for a downhill putt, by gripping down from where I usually hold the putter, thereby shortening the club, which takes off speed. That didn't help as much, though I must say that I'm pretty good at downhill putts already and don't need this kind of assistance.
You might try it, though, lengthening or shortening up on the grip to adjust for slope. Then you hit the ball using the same pace as you would for the length of putt you are facing as if it were a putt across level ground. I can't say anything conclusive about this trick, because I only played with it for a few minutes. It's just another variable that might help.
Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Ball First, Ground Second
To hit a decent golf shot, you need to make contact on the center of the clubface with the clubface square to the target, and the clubhead moving toward the target. Do that and you can play decent golf. If you want to play outstanding golf, there's one more thing. Hit the ball first, the ground second.
If your handicap is in double digits, the chances are great that you hit the ground first, and the ball second most of the time. When that happens, clubhead speed is diminished before the ball is struck, causing you to lose distance. The clubhead can get twisted, affecting accuracy. The most effective strike is to hit the ball before the clubhead reaches the bottom of its arc. This drill teaches you how to do that.
If your handicap is in double digits, the chances are great that you hit the ground first, and the ball second most of the time. When that happens, clubhead speed is diminished before the ball is struck, causing you to lose distance. The clubhead can get twisted, affecting accuracy. The most effective strike is to hit the ball before the clubhead reaches the bottom of its arc. This drill teaches you how to do that.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
A Controlled Putting Stroke
When I write these posts I like to keep two rules in mind. First, write only about things that a reader can learn form reading the post. If something is experiential, too open to interpretation, I won't write about it it, because I don't want a misinterpretation to send anybody off in the wrong direction. Second, keep my own game out of it. What applies to me may not apply to you and may even be detrimental to your game. I try to write about golf's universals--things that anybody can put into their game and become a better golfer.
This post breaks both of those rules, but I want to mention it for whatever it's worth to you. If it makes you think about putting a bit differently and encourages you to make explorations on your own, even if they don't end up where I am now, that's fine with me.
Since my back surgery seven weeks ago, I have been putting. Nothing but putting. You can imagine that with nothing else about golf to distract me, I am getting to be a better putter than I was before. One problem I have been trying to solve for many years is how to take the putter back smoothly from the ball and in such a way that the putterface doesn't open so that it can't get square again when it gets back to the ball. That sound like two things, but it's all of the same piece.
This post breaks both of those rules, but I want to mention it for whatever it's worth to you. If it makes you think about putting a bit differently and encourages you to make explorations on your own, even if they don't end up where I am now, that's fine with me.
Since my back surgery seven weeks ago, I have been putting. Nothing but putting. You can imagine that with nothing else about golf to distract me, I am getting to be a better putter than I was before. One problem I have been trying to solve for many years is how to take the putter back smoothly from the ball and in such a way that the putterface doesn't open so that it can't get square again when it gets back to the ball. That sound like two things, but it's all of the same piece.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
How To Hit a Fade and a Draw
Curving the ball at will is a necessary skill for the advanced golfer, and it's not hard to do. Let's first review the impact geometry that will curve a golf ball. The direction the clubface faces at impact is the major determinant of the initial direction the golf ball starts along, club path having a lesser role. The ball will curve if the clubface is not square to the path the clubhead is moving along at impact. A clubface that is closed to the club path will curve the ball to the right. A clubface that is open to the club path will curve the ball to the left.
To curve the ball intentionally, some adjustments must be made to set up the desired impact geometry. We hope to keep them as simple as possible so that you have to make the least deviation from how you normally swing the club. Both the fade and draw will be hit with an open clubface. The difference between the two shots will be the aim point and the club path.
To curve the ball intentionally, some adjustments must be made to set up the desired impact geometry. We hope to keep them as simple as possible so that you have to make the least deviation from how you normally swing the club. Both the fade and draw will be hit with an open clubface. The difference between the two shots will be the aim point and the club path.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Golfers: Hit Fat No More
Several years ago, when Annika Sorenstam was on the LPGA tour, she was in Portland for the Safeway Classic golf tournament and was being interviewed by a local TV talk show. The host asked her, "Annika, do you ever hit it fat? I mean, just turn up some sod?" and she answered, "No." Not, "No, I haven't done that since I was 13 years old." Just, "No," and then looking at the interviewer for the next question.
For us, it's not No. It's once or twice a round, and if you really wanted to cut it fine, we probably hit a little bit behind the ball on every swing. I'm not kidding. The pros start their divot in front of the ball, but we do that once in a blue moon.
Don't believe me? Try this. Go to the range and hit from the grass tees. Lay a tee on the ground, on its side, pointing at the back edge of the golf ball. Take a few practice swings with your 7-iron. Now hit the ball. I will bet you dollars to donuts that the divot started behind where the tee is pointing. Hitting behind the ball is your standard shot. Let's fix that.
For us, it's not No. It's once or twice a round, and if you really wanted to cut it fine, we probably hit a little bit behind the ball on every swing. I'm not kidding. The pros start their divot in front of the ball, but we do that once in a blue moon.
Don't believe me? Try this. Go to the range and hit from the grass tees. Lay a tee on the ground, on its side, pointing at the back edge of the golf ball. Take a few practice swings with your 7-iron. Now hit the ball. I will bet you dollars to donuts that the divot started behind where the tee is pointing. Hitting behind the ball is your standard shot. Let's fix that.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
The Left Elbow in the Golf Swing
Sometimes it's the little things that make big differences. Bringing the clubhead into the ball square and in line is such a precise skill that the littlest thing can throw it off. Or, the littlest thing can ensure that you're all lined up. Here's one of those little things--your left elbow.
Golf swing coaches counsel us to put width into our swing if we want to hit the ball a long way. They say to extend both arms at takeaway to create the longest swing arc you can. The reasoning is that the longer the arc, the farther the club has to move to hit the ball, and the more time it has to build up speed. That sounds like good advice, because who doesn't want to hit the ball a long way?
The problem is that the wide swing arc, created by extending the arms well into the swing, comes at the price of accuracy. The wider arc makes it harder to find the ball again, and swing path and clubhead control can easily be sacrificed.
There's another way to get distance, with no loss of accuracy. That is to start folding your left elbow early in the backswing. Let the takeaway motion go directly into this folding movement. Do this instead of keeping that left arm extended out with the right arm.
This will accomplish three things. First, it will encourage a complete turn away from the ball. By folding so soon, the right arm gets out of the way of your rotating torso, giving it a clear path to make as full a turn as you are capable of.
Second, it helps the right forearm rotate on the way back, keeping the clubface in the same square position that it had at address. Excess cupping of the right wrist (bending it backwards), throws the clubface out of square. This error is eliminated because the left hand is not forced back against the right due to a lack of space to move into.
Third, folding the left elbow early keeps the swing free of tension. Because the body has a clear path to complete the backswing, it doesn't have to fight against itself to get where it wants to go. Thus the mind stays relaxed and can start the clubhead down calmly. The most prevalent error recreational golfers make, hitting from the top, is in this way prevented.
Don't take this folding too far, though. The left arm must not come in so much that the right arm starts folding, too. That arm must stay in the same posture that it had at address.
Benefits continue as the downswing develops. The early folding allows the left arm to fold completely, so it can tuck itself neatly into the left side on the way down. This is a fabulous position for storing power.
In addition, the left arm will still be bent at impact, which is exactly how you want it to be. This arm will eventually straighten, but at impact occurs in the process of straightening, releasing the power you stored up earlier.
This all adds up to longer, more accurate shots because you will hit the ball on the center of the clubface, square and in line, much more often.
Experiment with finding the point after takeaway when your left elbow should begin folding. This might be the one thing you need to turn your swing completely around.
My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.
Golf swing coaches counsel us to put width into our swing if we want to hit the ball a long way. They say to extend both arms at takeaway to create the longest swing arc you can. The reasoning is that the longer the arc, the farther the club has to move to hit the ball, and the more time it has to build up speed. That sounds like good advice, because who doesn't want to hit the ball a long way?
The problem is that the wide swing arc, created by extending the arms well into the swing, comes at the price of accuracy. The wider arc makes it harder to find the ball again, and swing path and clubhead control can easily be sacrificed.
There's another way to get distance, with no loss of accuracy. That is to start folding your left elbow early in the backswing. Let the takeaway motion go directly into this folding movement. Do this instead of keeping that left arm extended out with the right arm.
This will accomplish three things. First, it will encourage a complete turn away from the ball. By folding so soon, the right arm gets out of the way of your rotating torso, giving it a clear path to make as full a turn as you are capable of.
Second, it helps the right forearm rotate on the way back, keeping the clubface in the same square position that it had at address. Excess cupping of the right wrist (bending it backwards), throws the clubface out of square. This error is eliminated because the left hand is not forced back against the right due to a lack of space to move into.
Third, folding the left elbow early keeps the swing free of tension. Because the body has a clear path to complete the backswing, it doesn't have to fight against itself to get where it wants to go. Thus the mind stays relaxed and can start the clubhead down calmly. The most prevalent error recreational golfers make, hitting from the top, is in this way prevented.
Don't take this folding too far, though. The left arm must not come in so much that the right arm starts folding, too. That arm must stay in the same posture that it had at address.
Benefits continue as the downswing develops. The early folding allows the left arm to fold completely, so it can tuck itself neatly into the left side on the way down. This is a fabulous position for storing power.
In addition, the left arm will still be bent at impact, which is exactly how you want it to be. This arm will eventually straighten, but at impact occurs in the process of straightening, releasing the power you stored up earlier.
This all adds up to longer, more accurate shots because you will hit the ball on the center of the clubface, square and in line, much more often.
Experiment with finding the point after takeaway when your left elbow should begin folding. This might be the one thing you need to turn your swing completely around.
My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.
The Late Hit
This is one of those phrases that gets amateur golfers into all sorts of trouble. They think that if they can delay the hit, whatever that means to them, and it's almost always the wrong thing, they can hit the ball a real long way.
And more often than not, they try to achieve the late hit by hanging back their left hand as long as they can and then snapping it, and the clubhead, into the ball at the last second. Boy, does that feel good, and yes, you can hit the ball an awful long way the one out of ten times you get it right. That's not what the late hit is, though.
The clubhead is attached to a lever that has two hinges. One hinge is the right shoulder. The other hinge is the right wrist. (The right elbow is not a hinge in the golf swing.) If both hinges were allowed to move freely on the downswing, the energy generated by the swinging of the arm would be transferred after a point to the clubshaft, through the wrist. Like a flail, an image you read about from time to time, the energy is multiplied to the tip of the lever, the clubhead, moving it at its maximum speed.
Now here's the thing. The flail, the threshing object, moves in a natural way that can be predicted by conservation of angular momentum. The person swinging the flail can't hit too soon, or the tips will reach the target after maximum speed was built up, and the tips will be slowing down. If the person tries to delay the hit too much, and the only way that can be done is to hold back the swing, maximum speed is never attained. There is only one way of swinging the flail so that maximum angular momentum builds up and is delivered at the right time, and if you were to swing one, it wouldn't take too many tries to find it.
When a golfer tries to hit the ball starting at the beginning of the downswing, that's hitting too early. Power will have peaked before impact. The solution, it seems, is to hold back the left wrist as described earlier, which is just going to the other extreme. Extreme solutions have no place in golf.
The middle way is to let the momentum of the swing build up naturally without forcing it or saving it up for the right moment. Do you ever swing the club back and forth a few times without stopping, completely relaxed, just to get loose, and let the clubhead freewheel through the bottom of the swing? That's what I'm talking about. That's the swing in which the lever-as-flail is operating and in which you are getting maximum clubhead speed through the ball.
Feeling clubhead speed is tricky. You want to feel something moving fast, so you concentrate on what you easily feel, your body and your arms, but they will never move at anywhere near the speed you want the clubhead to be moving. If you want to have a 100-mph swing speed, you don't get it by turning your body at 100 mph (good luck with that, though I play with a few guys who look like that's just what they're trying to do) or by swinging your arms at 100 mph, or by flicking your left wrist at the last moment.
You get that clubhead speed by staying relaxed and letting the hinged lever work naturally. The first few times you get it right it's scary, because the clubhead has never gone that fast before. You might think you did something wrong. Au contraire. You finally did it right.
The only reason anyone ever talks about a late hit is that so many golfers hit too early. The hit that I have described is the on-time hit, and that is the one you need.
For more on this, see Search for the Perfect Swing: The Proven Scientific Approach to Fundamentally Improving Your Game
by Cochran and Stobbs.
And more often than not, they try to achieve the late hit by hanging back their left hand as long as they can and then snapping it, and the clubhead, into the ball at the last second. Boy, does that feel good, and yes, you can hit the ball an awful long way the one out of ten times you get it right. That's not what the late hit is, though.
The clubhead is attached to a lever that has two hinges. One hinge is the right shoulder. The other hinge is the right wrist. (The right elbow is not a hinge in the golf swing.) If both hinges were allowed to move freely on the downswing, the energy generated by the swinging of the arm would be transferred after a point to the clubshaft, through the wrist. Like a flail, an image you read about from time to time, the energy is multiplied to the tip of the lever, the clubhead, moving it at its maximum speed.
Now here's the thing. The flail, the threshing object, moves in a natural way that can be predicted by conservation of angular momentum. The person swinging the flail can't hit too soon, or the tips will reach the target after maximum speed was built up, and the tips will be slowing down. If the person tries to delay the hit too much, and the only way that can be done is to hold back the swing, maximum speed is never attained. There is only one way of swinging the flail so that maximum angular momentum builds up and is delivered at the right time, and if you were to swing one, it wouldn't take too many tries to find it.
When a golfer tries to hit the ball starting at the beginning of the downswing, that's hitting too early. Power will have peaked before impact. The solution, it seems, is to hold back the left wrist as described earlier, which is just going to the other extreme. Extreme solutions have no place in golf.
The middle way is to let the momentum of the swing build up naturally without forcing it or saving it up for the right moment. Do you ever swing the club back and forth a few times without stopping, completely relaxed, just to get loose, and let the clubhead freewheel through the bottom of the swing? That's what I'm talking about. That's the swing in which the lever-as-flail is operating and in which you are getting maximum clubhead speed through the ball.
Feeling clubhead speed is tricky. You want to feel something moving fast, so you concentrate on what you easily feel, your body and your arms, but they will never move at anywhere near the speed you want the clubhead to be moving. If you want to have a 100-mph swing speed, you don't get it by turning your body at 100 mph (good luck with that, though I play with a few guys who look like that's just what they're trying to do) or by swinging your arms at 100 mph, or by flicking your left wrist at the last moment.
You get that clubhead speed by staying relaxed and letting the hinged lever work naturally. The first few times you get it right it's scary, because the clubhead has never gone that fast before. You might think you did something wrong. Au contraire. You finally did it right.
The only reason anyone ever talks about a late hit is that so many golfers hit too early. The hit that I have described is the on-time hit, and that is the one you need.
For more on this, see Search for the Perfect Swing: The Proven Scientific Approach to Fundamentally Improving Your Game
by Cochran and Stobbs.
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